Personalized Health & Related Technologies
Clausiusstrasse 45
CH-8092 Zürich
Switzerland
September 29, 2016
Marina Pierer
Communications Specialist
marinapierer@ethz.ch
Tel: +41 44 632 42 77
Personalized Health and Related Technologies (PHRT) is a strategic focus area of the ETH Domain, running from 2017-2025, which encompasses six Swiss institutions: ETHZ, EPFL, PSI, Empa, Eawag and WSL. The main goal of PHRT is to drive the ongoing life science revolution that will ultimately transform medicine as it is today into ‘individualized medicine’. In essence, a person’s unique biological makeup will guide decisions on how to maintain and restore health. Thanks to its community of researchers, associated hospitals and cooperation with partner organizations such as SPHN and SDSC, PHRT is pushing the frontiers of knowledge on the mechanisms of diseases and opening the door to new treatments and technologies improving health and disease treatments.
Advances in life science and information technology allow researchers to collect and analyze large volumes of health data. This can include clinical data, multi-omics data (e.g., genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.), imaging data, data from biobanks, and health data collected by physicians and individuals. These advancements have opened up the possibility to use each patient’s individual molecular makeup and characteristics as a basis for guiding medical decisions, preserving health and discovering and improving therapies.
PHRT has regularly launched calls for proposals during which ETH Domain researchers could submit their research project applications. These calls were specific to precise types of projects, but usually a call encompassed different types of projects.
Calls in, collaboration with partner organizations, served to support research in precision and personalized medicine in Switzerland.
The ETH/PHRT-funded clinical study “RAPID 01”, which includes patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who relapsed or are refractory to the initial standard of care therapy, is moving into the
Following a selection process through an international review, the PHRT Executive Committee has chosen to fund three promising projects from the ETH domain institutions, Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and Empa,
A recent Nature Communications paper by the Snijder & Wollscheid groups (IMSB) in collaboration with the Theocharides (USZ), Lopes (UZH), and Skoda (USB) groups, describes drugs targeting cancerous stem cells
Through its strategic focus area Personalized Health and Related Technologies (PHRT), in collaboration with Swiss hospitals, the ETH Domain has been promoting the testing and integration of ETH technologies into clinical practice for the benefit of patients since 2017. Activities in the first phase until 2020 focused on launching three technology platforms, specifically the Swiss Multi-Omics Center (SMOC), and on funding more than 50 medical/clinical research projects of various types. On top of 60-70 already funded projects, with its recent call for clinical trials, PHRT reached its goal of the second phase by closing the gap between research and practical implementation in the clinical setting by benefitting patients directly.
Following a highly competitive selection process by an international review panel, the PHRT Executive Committee has chosen two pioneering clinical trial projects from the ETH domain, in collaboration with clinical
Comm. Specialist,
Press Contact
Chariman PHRT
Executive Commitee
ETH Zurich
Paul Scherrrer Institute
ETH Zurich
Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University Hospitals of Zurich released a publication in Nature Cancer. Their work on multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, is enabled by Prof. Dr. Berend Snijder’s Pharmacoscopy technology, which was notably developed with funding by PHRT. With this technology a better understanding of the disease is made possible, which may translate into better therapies.
On April 20, 2023, researchers from ETH Zurich and the University Hospitals of Zurich had a publi-cation released in Nature Cancer. Their work on multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, is
Kropivsek, K., Kachel, P., Goetze, S. et al. Ex vivo drug response heterogeneity reveals personalized therapeutic strategies for patients with multiple myeloma. Nat Cancer 4, 734–753 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-023-00544-9
Comm. Specialist,
Press Contact
Chariman PHRT
Executive Commitee
ETH Zurich
Prof. Dr. Grégoire Courtine and his team of experts at EPFL have published an article in Nature about their work on patients with spinal cord injuries, using a brain-spine interface to allow patients to walk again. The team of Prof. Courtine has received funding from PHRT.
On May 24, 2023, Prof. Dr. Grégoire Courtine and his team of experts at EPFL have successfully published an article in Nature about their work on patients with spinal cord
Lorach, H., Galvez, A., Spagnolo, V. et al. Walking naturally after spinal cord injury using a brain–spine interface. Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06094-5
Comm. Specialist,
Press Contact
Chariman PHRT
Executive Commitee
EPF Lausanne
New research by a PHRT-funded project offers potential benefits for those affected by the hereditary metabolic disease methylmalonic aciduria. By combining the results of multiple molecular analyses, scientists can better diagnose this rare and severe disease. In the future, an improved understanding of the disease might also improve treatment options.
New research offers potential benefits for those affected by the hereditary metabolic disease methylmalonic aciduria. By combining the results of multiple molecular analyses, scientists can better diagnose this rare and
Forny P, Bonilla X, Lamparter D, Shao W, Plessl T, Frei C, Bingisser A, Goetze S, van Drogen A, Harshman K, Pedrioli PGA, Howald C, Poms M, Traversi F, Buerer C, Cherkaoui S, Morscher RJ, Simmons L, Forny M, Ioannis Xenarios, Aebersold R, Zamboni N, Rätsch G, Dermitzakis E, Wollscheid B, Matthias R. Baumgartner MR, Froese DS: Integrated multi-omics reveals anaplerotic rewiring in methylmalonyl-CoA mutase deficiency. Nature Metabolism, 26 January 2023, doi: 10.1038/s42255-022-00720-8
Comm. Specialist,
Press Contact
Chariman PHRT
Executive Commitee
University Children's Hospital Zurich
University Children's Hospital Zurich
Former Chairman PHRT Executive Committee
Chairman PHRT Executive Committee
Chairman PHRT Executive Committee
Member PHRT Executive Committee
Senior Physician Internal Medicine, Processes / Clinical IT
Member PHRT Executive Committee
